


Second Door Down (Blind Leading the Blind Remix)

by frostian



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Gen, Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-09-08
Updated: 2008-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:49:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23507143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frostian/pseuds/frostian
Summary: Adam Hastings Jr. took pride in his ability to read people. But, sometimes, the affair of the heart can blind even the wisest of men.
Relationships: None





	Second Door Down (Blind Leading the Blind Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Blood is Thicker Than Water](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/579193) by Neetha. 



Adam Hastings Jr. was born and raised in Billings, Montana. And, like his parents who were also born and raised in the university town, he’d never taken to the idea of settling elsewhere. In fact, from the looks of it, they were all probably going to be buried in Holy Cross Cemetery where the Hastings family own a sizeable plot reserved all to themselves.

In spite of the Hastings’ well-known reluctance to seek their fortunes elsewhere, you couldn’t say they were without ambition. Adam Hastings Sr. ran a profitable hardware store in spite of a large and well-stocked Home Depot only few miles away. Mrs. Hastings was actually Professor Hastings in the Department of Modern Languages and Literature at MSU-Billings where she was universally liked by her peers and respected by her students.

Adam Jr. joined the police department after graduating magna cum laude from MSU-Billings, and if his parents disapproved of his choice of vocation they never showed it. His career wasn’t stellar but it was respectable, and Adam was pretty confident he would make detective grade before he hit thirty. Besides, he wasn’t in a great rush to get out of his uniform and into his Dockers, as the only person he wanted to really impress wasn’t the type to care what he wore. In fact, Adam suspected Jo was more interested in his firearms than the brand on his jeans.

At first Adam thought Jo was pulling his leg when she informed him she had never cracked open a fashion magazine. But, after a short conversation, he realized she was being honest. Adam appreciated the fact that Jo was too busy with the going-ons in her life to take a peek into the world of outrageous make-believe, but he also felt a twinge of sadness that Jo’s life was so all consuming for the energetic bartender. However, if Jo felt any regret she never showed it, and when she slung the drinks, Pug Mahon’s Irish Pub was equally entertaining and lively. Especially if REO Speedwagon warbled in the background.

Adam took his usual seat in the pub at seven, like he would most weekday evenings, and ordered his customary Pabst with hamburger, well done. Jo had once asked why he wanted his burger cooked until he could smell the meat burning in the kitchen from his stool in the bar. Adam promptly replied that any food that came out of the pub’s grill damn well better be charbroiled if he didn’t want to land in the ER with a bad case of the trots. Jo chuckled at first before throwing back her head, laughing as if she had just heard the funniest joke in the history of civilization. It was right then that Adam fell in love – not a great big tidal wave of roses and champagne, mind you – just a gentle wavering of his heart under the weight of bright, boisterous sound of unfettered happiness. Ever since then Adam made it a life’s mission to go to the pub whenever Jo worked, hoping he would be able to bring a little cheer with humorous anecdotes of his days dealing with cranky students, crankier locals, and lost tourists who somehow ended up in Billings as if I-90 suddenly spat them out like cherry pits.

“Earth to Adam, here’s your dinner burnt to a crisp, just the way you like it,” Jo said, slamming his dinner plate in front of him. “We’re out of Pabst so I got you a Heinie.”

Adam winced as he took the beer.

“I know,” Jo said with a sympathetic look, “but it’s either that or pissweiser.”

Adam’s reply was to take a long, healthy drink from the bottle.

“Thought so,” Jo cracked before heading back to the other end of the bar to serve a hoard of college boys who were all openly ogling at her.

Adam couldn’t stop himself from smirking as he watched the young men make their moves and get shot down systematically. He would’ve been more amused but he knew such advances tired Jo out, and when she got tired, she got cranky and sarcastic. Better men than Adam would head for cover then, but Adam was too attuned to Jo’s moods to think he would ever be on the receiving end of her sarcastic remarks.

The biggest boy from the group reached over and grabbed Jo’s wrist. “Why are you being such a fucking tease?”

Jo’s stare didn’t waver. If anything her crooked smile grew as she answered, “Sweetheart, I don’t tease. If I want someone I go after him, even when he’s not ready for me. So back the fuck off unless you want to spent the next semester with a breathing tube down your throat.”

“Oh, a tough gal, I like…”

“She’s not kidding,” Adam drawled out, wiping his greasy fingers on his jeans as Jo had forgotten to give him a napkin with his meal. “She’s got a shotgun under the bar and it’s not loaded with salt, gentlemen.”

The idiot slurred out, “Who the fuck are you?”

Adam swiveled his body to face the group and unbuttoned his jacket. His gun gleamed wickedly in the light; even his holster shone a little. “I’m Officer Hastings. Who are you?”

The guy immediately let go of Jo. “Look, I don’t want any trouble, okay?”

Adam stood up and approached the drunk, separating him from his herd of friends. “Let me see your license. Now.”

The boy reluctantly handed over his wallet. Adam counted five twenty-dollar bills and seven singles along with a row of credits cards including an American Express. He then examined the license and said, “Hey, you _are_ actually over twenty-one. What are the odds the rest of your friends are of age, Mr. Jason Toomey?”

Jason Toomey turned redder but kept silent. Adam looked at each boy in the group before turning his attention back towards Toomey.

“I don’t know what made you boys think you can throw shit around this place but we got decent people here, and the last thing they need after a long day of back-breaking work is to clean up after jackasses like you.

“Get out, all of you or I swear to God I’ll take you all back to the station and let your parents bail you out. After I make a call to the local papers, including _Retort_.” Adam took a deep breath before adding, “And I’m not teasing either.”

Toomey nodded frantically, his anger drained and replaced by fear. Adam didn’t say anything and waited for nearly twenty seconds before snapping, “Which part of get the hell out did you not understand?”

Adam managed not to look too pleased as the group left the pub in a breakneck speed. He turned to Jo with raised hands of apology. “I know you can take care of yourself, Jo, but you have to admit they’re way too young to be tangling with the likes of you.”

Jo’s hard smile melted into something kinder. “If anyone else said that I’d be pissed but I know you so I’ll take it as a compliment.”

Adam gave a nod and plopped his wide-brim felt hat on his head with a flourish. “Just doing my duty. The last thing I need is to baby-sit a bunch of drunken frat boys in the tank.”

“I was wondering if you had nightshift,” Jo said. “You want something to take away with you?”

“Nah, can’t eat anything after ten: gives me heartburn.”

Jo didn’t answer. Instead, she stared at the main entrance, her head slightly cocked as if she was trying to catch some faint noise. Puzzled by her behavior, Adam shifted his attention away from Jo and listened. It was slight but definitely identifiable: the rumbling sound of a powerful car, one that was well taken care of and probably babied more than it deserved. He turned to Jo to make a crack about men and their toys but no witticism escaped from his lips.

Jo had completely transformed in the few seconds his attention was led astray. She was no longer the smart-mouthed, pretty girl-woman he was harboring a crush on. This Jo was a complete stranger: this Jo looked dangerous enough that if Mr. Toomey laid his hand on her she wouldn’t have hesitated to break his arm, maybe even his shoulder if she were so inclined.

_If I want someone I go after him, even when he’s not ready for me._

Adam suddenly knew there was such someone, and whoever he was Jo was wholly taken by the man. And such a man would own the car he’d just heard rumble by. Adam also realized this stranger was equal to the real Jo, the one he hadn’t been wise enough to see until now. But what wounded Adam the most was that the Jo he fell in love with didn’t exist, at all. She was a convenient mask necessary to exist in modern society where hard women were still considered pariahs and outlaws.

For a moment Adam felt anger at being duped so thoroughly by someone he counted on as a friend. But his mother taught him manners and the lessons stuck, even now when he felt betrayal sink its poisonous fangs into his heart and blood.

Adam didn’t say another word. He tucked his usual tip under his plate and left.

He stopped at the doorstep and looked down Riverside Road in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the car, but he was out of luck. There was only darkness, broken sporadically by vandalized street lamps, and lights streaming out of bars and restaurants scattered down the street.

_At least I didn’t make an ass of myself by asking her out_ , Adam thought as he got into his truck. _I got that, at least_. But the thought brought little comfort and felt too mean for Adam’s easy-going attitude, so he tucked away the thought, ignoring it until it died of neglect.

Adam would drive down Riverside Road quite often but he never stopped at the Pub. It was during Christmas season when he tried to find out if Jo ever asked about him. The answer was negative: no, Jo never questioned why Adam Hastings Jr. stopped coming by.

Adam couldn’t say he was surprised. No, not at all.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

The Kamikaze Remix challenge was very interesting for me. I decided to express what I came away with when I read the original story: the exclusion of everyone else from the relationship b/w Jo and Dean. Not even Sam was told about Dean's visits so I took that as a sign that Dean was intensely protective of both Jo and the feelings he have for her. Not that surprising since most women who have a complex relationship with him end up either dead or heartbroken. But, what's so special about Jo is the fact that she's a hunter like Dean and because of that she's in a different category altogether from Cassie, the only other woman Dean had serious feelings for.

How to convey this though?

I was stumbling in the dark until I came upon the idea of Adam Hastings. He's the type of man you would love your younger sister to date and then bring home. Handsome, but not too handsome, responsible, wise, funny, and ambitious but not too grasping. He comes from a good background, have loving parents and a circle of friends who would invite him over for weekend barbeques. And totally wrong man for Jo. I figured by seeing through his eyes we'll finally understand that Jo is a fortress unto herself, and whatever Adam had glimpsed was only because she had allowed it. Not because Adam had the ability to scale her walls. And, though Jo isn't deliberately cruel, she can do a lot of damage just by loving the way she was taught by her parents.


End file.
